Know your Knorr

As we march on through the month of September we'll begin to experience the early morning chill of autumn. That'll be our cue to move away from summer salads and barbecues, drawn back to more warming foods like stews and casseroles. Soup is another popular choice at this time and you can even have some at work from a Kafevend installed Klix machine. The soup you'll find in there comes from established household name, Knorr.

The company was founded in Heilbronn, some 30 miles north of Stuttgart, by Carl Heinrich Knorr in 1838. His first business venture was to supply the coffee industry with chicory; think camp coffee. However, it was his experiments concerning the art of drying vegetables and herbs, while preserving their inherent flavours, that brought the company guaranteed success. By 1873 the people of mainland Europe could select from a variety of dried soups. First introduced to the UK in 1949, Knorr's range of soups and stock cubes has since become a feature around the globe.

Knorr is a company with a conscience too. Committed to sourcing all their ingredients sustainably by the year 2020, as part of this drive they have launched a Knorr Landmark Farms programme. The farms involved in the project act as a beacon to other farmers, demonstrating by example the positive impact that sustainable agriculture can have, not only on the environment, but also on the flavour and quality of the crops.

Chefs from a host of nations work for Knorr, their expertise harnessed to create products suited to a variety of audiences. The company is committed to experimenting with new flavours and formats, just like its founder. This has inspired us to come up with our own soup recipe here on the Kafevend blog and a Knorr stock cube is at the heart of the dish of course!

2- Peel and chop onion. Add to pan, cover with lid and cook until the onions become transparent.

3- Crush the garlic into the pan and cook for a further minute.

4- Stir in the tin of tomatoes, vegetable stock, tomato purée and chilli powder and bring to the boil.

5- Peel and dice the carrots, potatoes and pepper and add to the pan. Simmer for 15 minutes, then add mushrooms and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes.

As with all recipes, please adjust to taste. If you aren't keen on too spicy a flavour, cut back on the hot chilli powder, whereas if you're a chilli aficionado, you might want to add freshly chopped chilli peppers at the garlic stage instead. Feel free to include your preferred vegetables. Experimentation is always good fun!